Ch.248 You're Under Arrest!

While Naruto was stealing the Scroll of Seals, Mizuki wasn't idle either.

After confirming that Naruto had sneaked off to the Hokage's residence, Mizuki returned to his apartment, packed his belongings, and prepared to defect.

In his opinion, the probability of Naruto successfully stealing the Scroll of Seals was extremely low.

Unless the Akatsuki intervened behind the scenes, it was simply impossible for a mere academy student like Naruto to infiltrate the Hokage's residence and steal the Scroll of Seals without being noticed.

Therefore, barring any unexpected circumstances, Naruto would likely be discovered the moment he tried to infiltrate the Hokage's residence and subsequently arrested by the Anbu.

Mizuki believed that since he had only mentioned the Scroll of Seals, even if Naruto were to be captured and reveal his involvement, the village's punishment would likely be limited to a verbal reprimand.

However, if the Akatsuki had made some secret arrangements and Naruto somehow succeeded, the village would undoubtedly investigate his involvement thoroughly. In that case, the consequences would be far more severe than a mere reprimand.

Thus, he had to be prepared to defect at any moment.

After arming himself, just as Mizuki was about to leave, he noticed a shadowy figure in the corner of his room.

"Who's there!?"

He spun around, his gaze locking onto the figure's eyes. Instantly, he fell into a daze, unable to resist.

At that moment, Shinji stepped out of the shadows.

He had witnessed Mizuki manipulating Naruto earlier. Now that the plan had reached this stage, the village could arrest Mizuki at any moment. Therefore, Shinji had to complete the final step before the village could act.

Approaching Mizuki, Shinji activated his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, dragging Mizuki, who was already under a genjutsu, into a deeper dream.

The dream Shinji constructed was very simple!

He created several scenes that looped endlessly in Mizuki's consciousness. These scenes depicted Mizuki repeatedly selling information about Naruto to the Akatsuki.

Clearly.

Shinji's goal was to implant a false memory into Mizuki's mind.

He wanted Mizuki to believe that he had always been a spy for the Akatsuki and to pin the blame for Karin being coerced by the Grass Village into providing information about Naruto on Mizuki.

Human memory can be altered.

A true psychological master can blur or even change a person's memory using nothing but words.

What Shinji was doing, however, was implanting a false memory into Mizuki's mind through repeated brainwashing.

He did this because he knew that once Mizuki was captured, the village would undoubtedly examine his memories, given that the incident involved the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.

At that point, the village would discover that Mizuki had only recently been recruited by the Akatsuki.

This didn't align with Shinji's needs. He needed Mizuki to take the blame for everything, so the village would quickly end its investigation into the students.

Additionally.

Mizuki was a spy planted in the village by Orochimaru. Shinji wasn't sure if Mizuki knew about Kimimaro, so to avoid affecting his "Tenseigan Plan," he had to ensure that Kimimaro wouldn't be implicated if Mizuki were exposed.

Thus, after forcibly implanting the false memory into Mizuki's mind through the looping dream, Shinji used a sealing technique to hide the memories related to Orochimaru.

This concealment wouldn't fool the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques, but Shinji never intended to completely hide it.

By using his Sharingan's ocular power to seal the memories, he wanted to indirectly prove Mizuki's connection to the Akatsuki.

If the village tried to break the seal, the ocular power he left behind would instantly activate, completely destroying the sealed memories.

As for whether Mizuki would become mentally impaired or lose his memory entirely, that wasn't Shinji's concern.

A moment later, Mizuki staggered and regained consciousness.

"Am I just too tired?"

Unaware that he had been under a genjutsu, he shook his head and left the apartment.

He then began searching along the route from the academy to the Hokage's residence.

He knew Naruto's personality well and was certain that if Naruto succeeded, he wouldn't hide too far away. Most likely, Naruto would be in a nearby forest, trying to learn the jutsu from the Scroll of Seals.

Mizuki's plan was simple: if Naruto failed and was captured without causing any significant damage, he would pretend that he had accidentally let slip the information about the Scroll of Seals to deal with the village's interrogation.

If Naruto succeeded and the situation escalated, Mizuki would seize the Scroll of Seals from Naruto and defect immediately.

As he thought about it, Mizuki shook his head and chuckled to himself, "I'm being too cautious. There's no way that brat Naruto could actually steal the Scroll of Seals!"

Just then, as he passed through a forest, he saw Naruto sitting in the woods, scratching his head in frustration as he struggled with a giant scroll.

His gaze then fell on the four characters written on the scroll's cover: "Scroll of Seals."

"This..."

Mizuki froze in place, momentarily forgetting his earlier plans.

Naruto also noticed Mizuki and called out, "Mizuki-sensei, I stole the Scroll of Seals! But the jutsu on it is too hard. Can you teach me?"

Hearing Naruto's shout, Mizuki's hair stood on end. He quickly dashed over, covering Naruto's mouth, and hissed, "Shut up!"

They were only a few hundred meters away from the Hokage's residence. Naruto's loud voice could easily attract the attention of other shinobi. If they were discovered because of Naruto's stupidity, Mizuki thought it would be a huge injustice!

He then glanced at the Scroll of Seals and saw the contents of the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."

"It's real!"

He was both shocked and thrilled.

When the Scroll of Seals, which contained numerous forbidden jutsu, appeared before him, for a brief moment, he couldn't believe it was real.

Naruto, having broken free from Mizuki's grip, asked in confusion, "Mizuki-sensei, what's wrong?"

Mizuki snatched the Scroll of Seals from Naruto's hands, his expression turning sinister as he raised his hand, "Naruto, just take a nap for me!"

Naruto was a target of the Akatsuki, so Mizuki didn't dare kill him. Instead, he planned to knock Naruto out and escape with the Scroll of Seals.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Just as Mizuki was about to knock Naruto out, the sound of countless shinobi landing around them filled the air. Dozens of Anbu members surrounded Mizuki and Naruto in the forest.

Mizuki looked around in terror, realizing that every figure surrounding him was an Anbu operative—more than ten in total!

One of the Anbu members stepped forward and said coldly, "Mizuki, you're under arrest!"